Our Earth is increasingly challenged by the impacts of human industry which have been accumulating since the dawn of the Industrial Age. One transformative change has been the growth of travel into a global, trillion-dollar industry, transporting and hosting visitors across national boundaries to enjoy the planet’s most exciting cultural and natural attractions.
Once a pleasure for the elite, recreational travel is increasingly accessible, with almost 1.5 billion international arrivals in 2019. Travelers often provide significant economic benefit to the destinations they visit, but negative impacts, known as the “invisible burden of tourism,” often go unmanaged and present a growing threat to the resilience of tourism destinations.
In this series, we’ll explore the challenges faced by tourism destinations today and how innovators across the globe are stepping up to protect invaluable cultural, social, and natural assets while improving the quality of life for the people who live and work where others play.
RESOURCES / NEXT STEPSSustainable Tourism Asset Management Program (STAMP)SUSTAINABLE TOURISM DESTINATION MANAGEMENT Self-Paced Cornell CourseMegan’s book “Sustainable Tourism on a Finite Planet”Destinations at Risk: The Invisible Burden of Tourism
Herman Daly in New York Times 11/8/22
